PRINCETON  The Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart does not have to wait for a holiday to organize a day of service. Last Saturday, teachers, staff and students put together over 500 lunch bags to donate to Loaves and Fishes, a Trenton-based soup kitchen.

Princeton Academy Reading Specialist Sharie Verdu has been volunteering at Loaves and Fishes for about 20 years. Wanting to bring about a school-wide community service project, she thought helping Loaves and Fishes would be a good idea.

Part of our mission as a Sacred Heart school is to serve the community and its important to get involved in issues that speak to the need for social action, said Verdu. I also think its important for those of us who are privileged to have interface with those who are not so lucky.

The day before the delivery, faculty and staff each took to school 10 peanut butter and jelly or 10 bologna sandwiches to make a total of 500 bagged lunches.

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While the teachers supplied the sandwiches, the students brought in apples and juice boxes to complete the lunches.

Students also decorated the lunch bags with various decorations with the hopes to make soup kitchen patrons smile.

Faculty and staff stayed after school and worked together to bag the lunches and organize them for the delivery. Several volunteers brought all the lunches to Loaves and Fishes the next day. One of those volunteers was Verdu.

You can see people appreciate just a smile and being respected as a person, explained Verdu.

The Catholic school is looking forward to organize similar service projects in the future.

The Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart is the only independent school for boys in junior kindergarten through grade 8 in New Jersey and is accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

Princeton Academy is a member of the National and International Network of Sacred Heart Schools.